


At Reality's End

by Katana20034



Series: Marble Hornets: After The Fact [3]
Category: Everyman HYBRID, Marble Hornets, Nightmare Diaries, Tribe Twelve
Genre: Alternate Universe - Canon Divergence, Angst with a Happy Ending, Author Is Sleep Deprived, Blood and Violence, Cannibalism, Canon-Typical Violence, Crack Relationships, Crossover, Everyone Is Alive, F/M, I Tried, M/M, Original Character - Freeform, Other, Post-Canon, Shenanigans, Team Up, What Have I Done, but like, kind of, theyre just the antagonist i came up with
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2020-03-25
Updated: 2020-02-25
Packaged: 2021-02-18 23:09:42
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence
Chapters: 1
Words: 4,455
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/22901335
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Katana20034/pseuds/Katana20034
Summary: As if their lives couldn't get any weirder, the Marble Hornets guys found themselves in an unfamiliar place, alongside unfamiliar people, as they struggle to grasp just what is happening to them, and the world around them. When things inevitably go south, they find themselves joining forces with the guys from Everyman HYBRID, Tribe Twelve, the Nightmare Diaries girls, and more than a few supernatural entities as they work to prevent a catastrophe the likes of which the universe has never faced.A big crossover fic with an actual plot that I finally decided to write!Takes place after the events of Lost and Found. Rating may change later on.
Relationships: Alex Kralie/Jay Merrick, Alex Kralie/Skully, Brian Thomas/Timothy "Tim" Wright, CryptBIT, Cryptic/HABIT, Evan/Vinny (Everyman HYBRID), Hoody/Masky, Kevin Haas | The Observer/Noah Maxwell, Prebrand/Arcane, Precane
Series: Marble Hornets: After The Fact [3]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1350883
Comments: 3
Kudos: 21





	At Reality's End

**Author's Note:**

> So yeah, this is a thing that happened. The main plot should become more clear as the chapters go on, but for now, enjoy the shenanigans that is everyone ending up in the same house.

Tim stuck his hands in his pockets as he leaned against the wall outside. Staring up at the trees surrounding the run-down house, he gazed at the night sky beyond. How long had he been standing out here in the chilly autumn air? He wasn't sure. The call of a familiar voice, however, snapped him out of his daze. He disposed of his cigarette and went inside to find Brian waiting for him on the couch, Alex and Jay having already gone to bed several hours ago. Tossing his jacket aside, he joined Brian, who leaned against hi once he sat down. It was hard to believe that everything the four of them in the household had been through had led them to their lives now, if one could even call it "living," since they were technically dead. 

Tim and Brian sat like that for a few moments, when there was the sound of a door opening, and Brian's head turned to see Alex stepping out of the room he shared with Jay. He quietly closed the door behind him, gave a quick nod to the pair on the couch, and made his way to the kitchen to dig through the fridge, probably looking for a snack or something. Brian and Tim quickly disregarded him. It was strange, Time thought, that despite everything that Alex had done, all the atrocities he'd committed, that they felt fine to let him live with them, even considering him a friend again. It was partially for Jay's sake, of course, but the former director had actually managed to redeem himself a little since being resurrected. Four years had passed since that day when they had all woken up from what should have been their demise. Alex had spent those four years becoming a decent human being again. 

Four years ago, Amy had returned. She'd kidnapped Alex and tortured him in a fit of rage, driven only by a thirst for revenge on the man who had killed her. The other three had, with help from Jessica, managed to track her down and rescue a traumatized Alex, but at the cost of Jessica's life. Jess had sacrificed herself to take down Amy, who tried to flee, by pinning her down and blowing up the warehouse before she could escape the already burning building. Her grave still stood behind the house, a reminder to all four of them of just how much had really changed.

Jay, unsurprisingly incapable of sleeping without Alex, came out of the room soon after, and joined him in the kitchen. Their lives were about as normal as they could hope for, which wasn't very normal at all, to be perfectly honest. Tim, Brian, and Jay, as a side effect of being resurrected by the Operator, all too often found themselves becoming their "other selves" and ending up having to go out and follow orders from the entity in question. They assumed it was their price to pay for being brought back. Alex occasionally found himself under the being's influence, but not nearly as often. He sometimes wondered if it was because he spent so much time under it's influence originally. Or maybe it was just a punishment, forcing him to see the other three suffer whilst he could do nothing about it. Alex wasn't quite sure. 

Suddenly, static. A creeping, soft static, steadily increasing in volume and intensity. The sound filled the air around them. They all knew that sound all too well, and what it meant was approaching. Sure enough, it wasn't long before the static became overwhelming, and three of them quickly wound up becoming, well, not themselves. However, there was something... off, about the whole situation. The static, upon reaching the point that it was overwhelming, never ceased. It just remained constant for several minutes without increase or decrease in intensity. They all looked to one another, confused, having expected orders but receiving nothing, just static. That was roughly when their vision went black. 

When they awoke, they found themselves in the woods. Yet, it wasn't the familiar woods surrounding the house they shared, but an unfamiliar, dark expanse of trees and brush. It was much colder here, and the humidity was significantly different as well. Jay, suddenly back to his normal self, was the first to speak up.

'Where the hell are we?" he asked, looking around and standing up. "What just happened?"

"Why should we know?" Alex said, brushing himself off. The four of them glanced around the woods for any sign that could indicate where they had been transported to, but found nothing. 

"I think what we should be worried about, is what we're going to do now. I'm not sure that it was the Operator that sent us here," Brian said, stuffing his hands into his pockets.

"So, what brought us here?" Alex said, pushing his glasses up.

"Who knows?" Tim cut in. "We just need to get a move on. I don't know about you, but I don't quite like the idea of standing out here in the cold all night."

"Tim's right," Jay said, adjusting his hat. "We need to find a place to stay for the night. We can figure things out then." It was then that each of them noticed they had some of their personal belongings with them. Whatever had sent them here had at least been gracious enough to provide that for them, it seemed. They also found a backpack, which had some various supplies. It also held Jay's camera, which the man in question grabbed and turned on. After that was sorted out, Tim threw the backpack over his shoulders, and the four of them began to walk through the woods.

After about ten minutes or so of walking, Brian suddenly stopped, prompting the others to stop as well and glance at him with confusion and concern. 

"What is it, Bri?" Tim asked.

"Shh- I heard something. I think something's following us," Brian answered in a hushed voice. They all stopped and listened, and sure enough, they heard the sound of quiet footsteps quickly coming to a halt. Alex immediately grabbed a large stick off the ground and held it out defensively. Jay pointed the camera in the direction of the sound, and Tim simply stood with his guard up. Alex was the first to speak up again. 

"Whatever it is, it seems to have noticed we've stopped." He was still fully prepared to beat the shit out of whatever was following them. A voice from behind threw them off.

"MORE LIKE _WHO_ EVER. WAY TO BE RUDE ABOUT IT," the voice said, speaking to them with an underlying growl that made all of their nerves spike. They whirled around to face whoever had spoken, and found themselves looking at a young man with brown hair that hung messily in his face, a strong yet lithe build, and a machete in one of his hands. He wore a jacket with a torn sleeve over a t-shirt, and a cap that shadowed his eyes. Despite how shadowed his eyes were, they still stood out vividly. They were perhaps his most striking feature. They were a vivid, glowing, pulsing purple. His eyes had dark circles underneath. He smiled, which was an unsettling sight. The other four immediately took a step back from the stranger, which the man in question seemed to find rather amusing. 

"NO NEED TO GET LIKE THAT, I DON'T PLAN ON HURTIN' YA," he said, laughing. "NOT WITHOUT GOOD REASON, ANYWAYS."

"Who are you?" Tim asked, wary of the stranger.

"OH, RIGHT! SORRY 'BOUT THAT. NAME'S HABIT, AND YOU ALL ARE CLEARLY ABOUT AS NORMAL AS I AM."

"What do you mean by that?"

"WELL FOR ONE THING, YOU SHOULD BE DEAD. LIKE, LITERALLY YOU ALL DIED. APPARENTLY STICK-IN-THE-MUD BROUGHT YOU BACK OR SOME SHIT? JUST LIKE ME AND VINNY GOT BROUGHT BACK. DON'T ACT SO SURPRISED, I CAN TELL THESE THINGS."

"Wait- you died too?"

"WELL, NO- NOT ME. THIS BODY. MY VESSEL, EVAN. HE DIED. CAN'T REALLY KILL ME, WHEN YOU THINK ABOUT IT."

"You're possessing someone?" Jay asked, almost dropping his camera.

"DING DING DING! CORRECT! LOOKS LIKE YOU GUYS CATCH ON FAST. BUT YEAH, I'M NOT HUMAN."

"What do you even want?" 

"WELL, NOT REALLY ANYTHING FROM YOU GUYS AT THE MOMENT. NAH, JUST FOUND YOU FOUR LYING ON YOUR ASSES OUT HERE AND DECIDED I'D SEE WHAT YOUR DEAL WAS. SEEMS TO ME LIKE YOU COULD USE SOME HELP, AND PROBABLY A PLACE TO STAY WHERE YOU COULD AVOID STICK-IN-THE-MUD." HABIT said, tilting his head as he fidgeted with the machete in his hand.

The other four all turned to one another, trying to make sense of what they should do. After a few moments of discussion, which mostly involved them wondering if they could trust him, they decided they didn't have much else in the way of options, so they agreed. HABIT led them through the woods, and down a few roads. When they arrived at the house HABIT brought them to, the lights were on, and they could see someone moving around in one of the rooms. HABIT pushed open the door and walked in, motioning for the others to follow, before calling out. 

"HEY VINNY! WE'VE GOT GUESTS! UNDEAD ONES, AS A MATTER OF FACT!" He led them into the living room, where a man with a beard and glasses was seated on the couch. He turned to look at them as HABIT entered. 

"Undead ones? How do you mean?" he asked, looking at the other four. 

"I FOUND 'EM IN THE WOODS! THESE GUYS ARE- WAIT- I DON'T THINK YOU FOUR EVER ACTUALLY TOLD ME YOUR NAMES. THAT'S RUDE, I TOLD YOU MINE." It was hard to tell if HABIT was being serious or not, but the smirk on his face was still evident.

"Oh- uh, sorry about that. I'm Jay Merrick, the one next to me who's a bit of an asshole is Alex Kralie. The one with the dark hair and sideburns is Tim, and that's Brian, and yes, he does always wear that hoodie. I used to manage a YouTube channel called Marble Hornets? We were all involved in it. Basically, a tall, faceless asshole was tormenting us. We all died, but apparently we got brought back. Earlier, said asshole showed up, and the next thing we knew we woke up in the woods, and HABIT found us," Jay explained. 

"A tall, faceless asshole? Can definitely say I can relate. I had the same kind of problem going on for a while. I'm Vinny Everyman, sorry about HABIT, he's kind of... chaotic. A little murder-y too," Vinny replied, earning an eye roll from the shorter man beside him. 

"We're honestly just trying to figure out what the hell is going on and where we are," Alex said, shifting his weight.

"WELL, YOU'RE IN NEW JERSEY, FOR ONE THING. AS FOR WHAT THE HELL IS GOING ON, I DON'T THINK ANYONE REALLY KNOWS RIGHT NOW, NOT EVEN STICK-IN-THE-MUD," HABIT answered.

"New Jersey?!" Brian asked. "We went all the way from Alabama to New Jersey?"

"APPARENTLY." HABIT shrugged.

"I'm not sure even the Operator could have pulled that off," Tim said, turning to Jay. 

"Who knows," Jay sighed.

"Operator?" Vinny asked.

"Faceless dick," Alex clarified for him.

"Oh. That makes more sense now." Vinny glanced at his phone, then looked back up. "It's getting kind of late, you guys can stay here for a while if you need to, there's plenty of extra rooms with couches or beds you guys can sleep in."

"You don't have to do that, we can find a hotel or somethi-" Brian began, but Alex cut him off, gesturing to Jay.

"Uh- a hotel is not the _best_ idea, but thanks for trying, Brian."

"Oh, right. Sorry, Jay," Brian said, turning to the man who had experienced far too many traumatizing events at a hotel.

"It's fine," Jay replied, shrugging.

After some discussion, HABIT and Vinny went upstairs to their rooms, Tim and Brian took a guest room, and Alex and Jay fell asleep watching movies on the couch.The next morning was just as eventful as that night had been.

Jay woke up to the sound of people talking. At first, he just assumed he'd been the last to wake up. After a moment or two, though, he heard two voices he didn't recognize. That had him sitting up, now fully conscious, to find the others standing just inside the front door, now joined by two unfamiliar faces. One was a tired-looking man covered in dirt-stained clothes, with dark, curly hair that was currently a mess, dark circles under his eyes, and a bag thrown over his shoulder. In one hand he held a black journal, and he did most of the talking out of the two strangers. The other man had dark skin and hair, and wore glasses that seemed recently repaired. He kept his gaze either on HABIT or his exhausted-looking companion as conversation went on around him, staying quiet for the most part. Alex glanced over and noticed Jay was awake, quickly catching the others' attention as well. Jay stood and approached the group, rubbing the sleep from his eyes. 

"Oh good, Sleeping Beauty is finally up," Brian joked, sticking his hands in the pockets of his hoodie. Jay rolled his eyes.

"Ha ha. Very funny. What's going on?" He glanced from Brian, to the newcomers, and then to HABIT and Vinny.

"LOOKS LIKE YOU FOUR WEREN'T THE ONLY ONES THAT GOT DUMPED ON OUR DOORSTEP," HABIT said with an air of snark. 

"The one who's covered in dirt and hasn't slept for days is Noah, the quieter one over here is Kevin. Careful with him, by the way, he's possessed by one of you-know-who's lackeys," Vinny said, gesturing to each of the two as he introduced them.

It was Noah's turn to give an eye roll. "You try being stuck at that damn boardwalk for as long as I was and see if you don't look like a homeless insomniac afterwards."

"So, what brought you two here?" Jay asked, watching as Noah put the journal he'd been holding into his bag carefully.

"Well, HABIT wasn't actually that far off. We kinda just got dumped here by God knows what. Last I remember I was stuck at the boardwalk, and Kevin- er, I guess Observer, technically," He looked to Kevin for confirmation, who shrugged, "well, he was trapped inside that fake house they'd stuck me in for a while. I was running again for a while, next thing I knew, I fell on my ass and ended up outside this house, and Kevin was here too. HABIT let us in," Noah explained. You could hear in his voice how drained the endeavor had made him. 

"And no idea what sent you here?"

"Nope, same as you guys, from what your friends here have told me."

"So we still don't have any answers as to why this is happening or how. Just more questions. _Fantastic,_ " Alex chimed in, sounding really quite fed up with this whole mess already. 

HABIT spoke up again. "ACTUALLY, NOW THAT YOU MENTION IT..." The others turned to him with confusion and curiosity. "I MIGHT NO SOMEONE. WHETHER SHE KNOWS ANYTHING ABOUT THIS IS A LOTTERY, BUT IT'S DEFINITELY RIGHT UP HER ALLEY. THERE'S ALSO A POSSIBILITY THAT SHE MIGHT KNOW, BUT WON'T GIVE US ANY SORT OF CONCRETE INFORMATION ANYWAYS. STRAIGHT ANSWERS AREN'T REALLY HER THING, USUALLY. EXCEPT FOR ONE OCCASION, I SUPPOSE."

"Depends on who you're talking about, here-" Noah said, looking at HABIT skeptically.

"NOBODY YOU'VE MET, NOAH."

"That just makes me more anxious, considering your track record."

"OH, STOP BEING SUCH A BABY ABOUT IT." HABIT decided to make a show of pulling out a phone and typing away, presumably contacting whoever this acquaintance of his was. After a second or two he stuck the phone back in his pocket with a completely unnecessary flourish, and turned back to the others with a smug look. "SHE'S ON HER WAY."

Not even more than five minutes later, there was a sound like a mix of electrical distortion and the sound of something tearing, then silence. The others all turned towards the sound in alarm, but HABIT simply smirked and strolled up to the door. He opened it, and standing behind it was a girl.

"Can't figure anything out on your own anymore, HABIT? Still need me to do the hard work for you, huh?" The stranger remarked, with a slight growl to her voice that sent chills down the others' spines and destroyed all pretense the girl might have had at being completely human. The girl was relatively average in height, probably around 5'5" or so. She wore a black hoodie, with the hood pulled up, and black gloves that matched. She also was dressed in severely damaged jeans, which had several large rips going down the front. She had black combat boots, which had rust-colored stains splattered across them that the others choose not think about the source of. In one hand, the girl held a pair of scissors that appeared unusually sharp, as though she had intentionally sharpened them. Under her hood, one could faintly see short, light brown hair that had been dyed red some time ago, but that the dye had now faded from. The feature that stood out the most, however, washer mask. It was white with black markings, similar to Tim's, but a completely different design. One of the holes for the eyes had been completely covered from the inside of the mask with a black material, rendering sight through that eye hole impossible. Across that eye were three vertical lines, reminiscent of scars. Around the other eye, the familiar symbol of a circle with an x drawn through it, the Operator's symbol, immediately caught the attention of the Marble Hornets guys. Her mask also featured a black, jagged smile that stretched from one side of the mask to the other with cracks drawn at the edges. Through the eye hole that wasn't blacked out, one of the girl's eyes could be seen. It was a burning, glowing red, with prominent dark circles underneath. 

"ABOUT TIME YOU SHOWED UP, KITTEN. USUALLY YOU'RE FASTER THAN THAT."

"Got a bit caught up in something my boss was having me handle. Not to mention I had to drag this little procrastinator along with me." She gestured behind her, where another girl stood, looking very anxious. She was shorter than Cryptic, incredibly skinny, had short blonde hair, blue eyes, and wore round glasses, a tank top, and shorts. "Before you ask, yes, she's still my bitch of a coworker's vessel, unfortunately. Lucky for us, Arcane went and wore herself out dealing with Nightmare, so she won't be making much of an appearance anytime soon."

HABIT chuckled and let the girls inside, closing the door behind them. "EVERYONE, MEET CRYPTIC. THE SHORTER ONE IS JAX."

Noah pointed at Jax. "Wait- you- I know you, don't I?"

Jax turned around and looked the man up and down, thoughtfully, then looked over to Kevin, who was standing beside him, and realization quickly made itself known in her expression. That realization was quickly replaced by embarrassment. "Oh fuck- from the incident with Prebrand and Arcane- yeah, sorry about that-"

"No- uh, I don't blame you or anything, I know that wasn't you. I wouldn't have even seen if Observer hadn't dragged me there for his amusement.

Cryptic tilted her head. "You know those two?"

Jax sighed. "Long story. Arcane's fault. It's more like _she_ knows those two. Well, specifically a future version of Noah, and the guy possessing Kevin."

Cryptic may have been wearing a mask, but everyone could tell she had a shit-eating grin by her tone of voice. "Ah, similar to how I know HABIT, then."

Jax looked aside. "Can you drop the subject, now?"

"Fair enough."

After more introductions, everyone sat around a dining table that they had hastily pulled some extra chairs up to.

"SO, CRYPTIC, ANYTHING YOU CAN TELL US ABOUT HOW THESE SIX GOT DUMPED AT OUR DOORSTEP?" HABIT asked, gesturing vaguely to the otheres.

Cryptic sat next to him, with her elbows on the table and her finger pads touching in a way the others had learned from Jax that Cryptic often sat, an easy way to distinguish between her and her vessel, aside from the red eyes and fangs. "All I know is that something made reality lose it's proverbial shit for a second and dump them here. Probably because you've had similar experiences, or probably because you were all involved with my employer, somehow.

"So, something weird is happening to reality itself?" Jay asked, curious about the unknown as ever.

"Not necessarily. Fuck-ups like this aren't uncommon. Usually a minor breach is enough to cause small issues with space or time. Could be some shit left over from the mess Nightmare made of The Connect, which we still haven't fully fixed yet," she said, glancing across the table at Jay where he sat next to Alex. Earlier, she had explained how someone called "Nightmare," who she had refused to elaborate much else on, had "caused some... issues, in The Connect. Kind of made a mess of things. Nightmare was The Disruption."

"So, basically, who the hell knows?" Noah said, an arm around Kevin.

Cryptic briefly moved her arms to shrug before resuming her previous sitting position. "More or less. I don't have any more information to offer, even if I wanted to give you more answers, simply because I don't know."

"AT LEAST YOU MANAGED TO GIVE US _ONE_ STRAIGHT ANSWER. USUALLY THAT'S NOT YOUR THING," HABIT teased as he shifted in his seat, his arm subtly moving towards Cryptic beneath the table.

Kevin spoke up next. "So, what are we supposed to do, then? Noah and I can't get a flight back to Florida right now, and to be honest, trying to travel any sort of long distance could be disastrous, especially since Observer could show up at any time. We're pretty much stuck here if we want to keep things under control for a while."

HABIT was busying himself with not paying attention to the conversation, so Vinny responded. "I mean, HABIT and I went through and reorganized a bunch of the rooms upstairs, so it's not like you guys couldn't stay here for a while, believe it or not I think we have just enough rooms for everyone, if some of you room together. Gives us plenty of time to figure more of this out, and it'll be easier as a group. Besides, we've all had different, yet pretty similar experiences, particularly involving the tall faceless motherfucker. Maybe we could help each other out a bit while we're here. Strength in numbers, and all that shit." 

Tim was about to say something, but was cut off by Cryptic slamming her hands down on the table and sitting up straight, startling the others and drawing their attention. After a second or two, she turned her head sharply to look at HABIT, who just gave her a smug look in response. 

Vinny sighed. "HABIT, get your had off her leg and pay attention, we're trying to get things worked out over here, you two can go at it later."

HABIT chuckled and rolled his eyes, but relinquished his hand, which he had sneakily worked up Cryptic's leg while Vinny had been speaking. Cryptic settled back into her seat, but not before pulling up her mask just enough to mouth something along the lines of "You'll pay for that later," at HABIT.

With that, the group went upstairs to the bedrooms Vinny mentioned to work out who was staying where. Jax had absolutely no intention of being forcefully dragged through the Connect again, and Cryptic agreed that with The Connect still a bit of a mess, long distance travel via those means probably wasn't the best idea, and neither of them had money or a way to get home, so they might as well stick around, too. Besides, HABIT felt their input would be useful. After some discussion (and bickering), the rooms, and who would be sharing together, was finally worked out.

Cryptic would move into HABIT's room for the time being and share with him, much to the delight of both entities. In the event HABIT gave control to Evan (which was unlikely), or Cryptic let Cat out for a bit (also unlikely), or both (probably never going to happen), that would be changed temporarily. 

Vinny would sleep in his room, by himself.

The Marble Hornets boys would share the room next door, which had two beds. Jay would share one with Alex, and Tim and Brian would share the other one, naturally.

Jax would get a peaceful room to herself near the end of the hallway, as far from Cryptic and HABIT as possible. 

Noah and Kevin would share a room, adjacent to Cryptic and HABIT's room. 

While a few of the rooms clearly weren't originally bedrooms, and rather were other rooms re-purposed by HABIT and Vinny into spare bedrooms, they were still decently comfy. Everyone went to get settled in, and within a few hours, everyone had worked out their new living arrangements. After that, they all went about their own business. HABIT and Cryptic didn't come out of their room the rest of the evening, so everyone avoided going upstairs as much as possible. It didn't take a genius to figure out what they were up to. The one exception to Cryptic and HABIT's personal confinement to their room was when Cryptic came downstairs to grab a chair and some rope, saying only that she was "Getting payback for earlier," as she carried the items up the stairs, gripping her scissors in her other hand.

Noah and Kevin spent most of their time watching movies on the couch together, quietly. The others assumed that the two didn't often get quiet moments to themselves, so they did their best not to disturb them. Vinny busied himself with ordering enough pizza to feed everyone, and the Marble Hornets boys sat around and talked with each other for a while.

It may not have been the most convenient change in lifestyle, but they all quickly found themselves getting accustomed to their temporary residence and new housemates. 

Even if they still wondered why this situation had happened at all, and even if they still didn't have all the answers, at least they had some things figured out.

And besides, it wasn't like things could go any more downhill, right?


End file.
